Adobe’s creative software gets new versioning; there will be no CS7

For all y’all oldsters who remember the days before Adobe Creative Suite ever existed, get ready for history to play itself out all over again: Adobe is switching versioning nomenclature and will now be using CC instead of CS.

So, for example, the next version of Photoshop will be Photoshop CC, not Photoshop CS6.

The “CC” stands for Creative Cloud, Adobe’s new paradigm for delivering and upgrading software that enables for creativity, collaboration, and a sense of community among like-minded professionals across the creative industries.

The rebranding isn’t just a change in name only, however. Adobe is shifting everything about its business, from how it collects software fees and licenses its products to how often its features get updated within the various apps.

There are a lot of big changes coming, but for Adobe to continue to maintain its dominant position in the evolving world of design, those changes are necessary.

“The writing is on the wall for where Adobe is headed, but people are surprised we’re going all in as soon as we are,” Adobe marketing director Scott Morris told VentureBeat in a conversation last week.

“That’s the direction things are heading. This model lets us meet the new world way better than the old model ever would have.”

Read on for more details on how the new Creative Cloud paradigm might impact your finances (for better or for worse), and the new features you’ll be seeing rolled out ever more quickly.